Ranking Pablo Sandoval and Every 3-Homer Game in Postseason History

Ranking Pablo Sandoval and Every 3-Homer Game in Postseason History

Pablo Sandoval joined elite company Wednesday night, as he homered three times in the San Francisco Giants 8-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the World Series.

That marked just the ninth time in postseason history, and fifth time in World Series history, that a player has hit three home runs in one game.

So where does Sandoval's performance stack up to those other eight? Here is a look at how I'd rank them, taking into account not just the player's numbers in the game, but also the situation in which he hit the home run and the significance of that game in the given series.

Hitting out of the leadoff spot, Brett hit just nine home runs during the regular season in 1978, but he had future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter's number in this one and took him deep in each of his first three at bats.

That kept the Royals in the game, but they wound up losing 6-5 and the Yankees completed the series sweep with a 2-1 victory the next game.

Not to take anything away from Pujols' accomplishment in the last World Series, but he did all of his damage against the Rangers' bullpen, and aside from his first home run which pushed the Cardinals' lead from two runs to five runs, his blasts had little effect on the outcome of a blowout game.

He added a pair of singles for an impressive five-hit game, as the Cardinals tallied 15 hits as a team and won by a final score of 16-7 to take a 2-1 series lead.

Ruth went deep three times in a World Series game for the second time in three years in 1928, and he did it in the Yankees series-clinching game as they swept the Cardinals.

Ruth's second home run off of Sherdel, a 21-game winner during the regular season, was followed by a solo shot from Lou Gehrig and sparked a four-run inning for the Yankees that proved to be the difference in a 7-4 victory.

Ruth was the first (and second) player to accomplish the feat of three home runs in a postseason game, and the Yankees' offense was firing on all cylinders in this game as they scored 10 runs and banged out 14 hits against the Cardinals.

The win pulled the series to 2-2, but the Cardinals would eventually come away with the title in seven games, with Ruth's infamous caught-stealing attempt marking the end of Game 7.

While he did not pile up the RBI like some of the other guys on this list, and he is the only player to do it in the Division Series round, Beltre almost single-handedly won a clinching game for the Rangers.

Ian Kinsler homered for the Rangers to lead-off the game, but they were held to just five hits the rest of the way, with three of those being Beltre solo home runs.

The third long ball proved to be huge, as the Rays sent five guys to the plate in the bottom of the ninth and scored a run to cut the Rangers' lead to one.

Kennedy certainly ranks as the most unlikely player on this list, as he hit just seven home runs during the regular season and enjoyed his three homer game out of the No. 9 spot in the Angels' lineup.

His third home run was a big one, as he hit it off of a tough lefty in Johan Santana and gave the Angels the lead for good at 6-5. The Angels went on to score 10 runs in the inning, with Kennedy hitting again and singling, as the Angels took the series 4-1 with the victory.

Facing arguably the best pitcher in baseball, Sandoval set the tone for the game early, taking Justin Verlander deep twice and homering in each of his first three at-bats, and the fact that he was facing one of the best certainly shoots him up this list.

He's driven in a run in the team's last six games now and has carried the Giants' offense along with Marco Scutaro. As a free-swinger who's seeing the ball really well right now, it'll be interesting to see what he does for an encore.